No, that’s not a band name, it’s a serious bacterial infection called cellulitis, and I gotta go in tomorrow and get some drugs. Let me explain.

Yesterday, I woke up and had a sore spot on the bridge of my nose. We’d taken a visiting engineer on a car tour of the mountains for much of the previous day, and I figured it was because I’d worn sunglasses more than usual. So I didn’t wear them. In the evening it was worse, and really seemed like an infection (red skin, swollen, tender to the touch), so I swabbed it with Tea tree oil , then covered that with Neosporin.

It wasn’t any worse the next morning, and I didn’t think much about it. But by evening it was worse. I could feel pain even when I wasn’t touching it. So I Googled “sore bridge of nose,” and that led me to this page. That page gave me a name to look up: cellulitis. Sounds like lumpy fat on the face, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.

What is it?

A bacterial infection of the skin, most often occuring on the lower legs. When it appears on the face (often the bridge of the nose), it’s the most serious, because it can spread to your eyes, your brain, and just generally kill you. (This is what I get for giving up caffeine about that time. Just kidding – or AM I?)

For the full story, I advise you to read this enlightening page. Essentially, I mighta got it through recent gardening or possibly by being licked in the fact by a cute little dog who eats her own poop, in addition to every piece of trash she can find.

There are no red streaks, so I’m not heading off to the emergency room. I’ll call my doc in the morning and tell her she needs to fit me in asap. It’s usually treated with an antibiotic called Keflex, which I need to look up next. In the meantime, I made up some ionized silver and drank that. I’d take a picture of my nose, but right now it would be hard for you to see anything. And I want to keep it that way.

Holy crap.

Update

When I woke up this morning, everything was much better, but I called the doc anyway. They gave me an appt. for 1:00. I kept drinking ionized silver, and when I went in there really wasn’t much to see. However, after I described everything, she agreed with my diagnosis and put me on the Keflex antibiotic — three times a day for 10 days. They really don’t want to risk it going into your brain when it’s on your face like that. Interestingly, she would have put me on a stronger drug if I had thought it came from the cat, because cats have pasteurella in their mouths, and that’s some bad-ass bacteria.

Further Update:

I should mention that the drugs cleared it up completely, and I’ve had no new instance as of August 6, even though I continue to let Josie lick my face occasionally. Interestingly, the slight rash at the corner of my eyes came back. I stopped using a type/bottle of eye drops, and they cleared up. Could have been some contamination in the bottle or an allergic reaction to an ingredient in the drops. Could have had no relation to the drops at all.